The Interamerican Peer-Review Mechanism on Effective Public Management (MECIGEP) is a formal, permanent, voluntary peer-dialogue mechanism open to all OAS member States.
The MECIGEP facilitates horizontal collaboration between OAS member States facing similar governance and public management challenges in areas such as open government, strategic planning, public budget, civil service, coordination mechanisms, evaluation of policies and programs, digital transformation, decentralization, quality of public services, behavioral sciences applied to public policies, among others. It is based on peer-reviews rounds of technical dialogue between ad-hoc small groups of 3-4 countries, where an OAS member-State presents implementation challenges regarding of a concrete public policy, program, project or initiative about to be launched with the purpose to receive inputs and practical and "down-to-earth" recommendations from another OAS member-States that had delt with the similar challenges in the past and had implemented a successful solution.
MECIGEP process has a strictly technical approach. High-level officials from OAS member countries collaborate, on a voluntary basis, in a review process of specific experiences carried out by other OAS member countries. It uses analytical frameworks agreed upon by the participants that allow the identification of positive elements that all public management must consider in achieving effectiveness. Thus, for example, having a long-term, empirical-based, co-designed, user-centered, behaviorally informed, complexity-aware and fiscally responsible approach to public policy.
The MECIGEP is inspired and informed by similar peer-reviewing regional mechanisms in Europe (OECD), Africa (Organization of African Unity) and MENA countries; as well as the many peer-to-peer dialogue processes of the United Nations System. However, unlike other similar mechanisms carried out by the GS/OAS (for example, MESICIC, MESECVI, Working Group of the Protocol of San Salvador), the MECIGEP does not monitor the implementation of any regional legal instrument (agreement, convention, protocol). The Mechanism offers its recommendations considering specific problems, challenges, capacities, and interests of each beneficiary country. The acceptance of these recommendations does not oblige the beneficiary country before the other member countries or before the GS/OAS. However, the beneficiary country may, at its discretion, request the MECIGEP Technical Secretariat to carry out this follow-up for informational purposes only.